Microsoft Word final-current Developments at the Intersection of British Children-online-version doc

7.
Summary and evaluation of research results..................................... 249
7.1 
Outlook....................................................................................................................... 252 
8.
Bibliography .......................................................................................... 259
8.1 
Secondary works ........................................................................................................ 267 

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0.
 
Foreword 
For simplicity I have made the following definition: Whenever in this study author, 
hero
, reader or any comparable term is used, I infer both genders.
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”
1
Simple as they are, these few 
memorable words introduce us to the most complex of all fantasy worlds created so far. When 
Tolkien scribbled the opening sentence of The Hobbit, Or There and Back Again (1937) onto 
a blank page found amidst exam papers, little did he know that what he had just penned was 
to become the symbolic turn of the tide for the success of modern fantasy literature. With The 
Hobbit
and The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955) Tolkien has rendered himself and his creation, 
the universe of Middle-earth, immortal. Today, some seventy years later, Middle-earth still 
enchants millions of readers and now also viewers worldwide. Not only did Peter Jackson’s 
film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) create a monument to the author and his 
work, but also to fantasy in general. It pays homage to a genre which, for many decades, had 
been met with literary critics’ scant regard and stigmatised as nursery inventory.
2
Tolkien’s 
literary achievement has earned fantasy confidence, respectability
3
and an ever increasing 
popularity.
At first glance, it seems that Tolkien created a paradox situation. Although his two 
major works ring in the modern vogue of fantasy literature and have gained the status of very 
influential model cases and trendsetters, they are deeply rooted in an ancient and thus 
conservative tradition. How then did the author manage to revolutionise a genre with a 
traditional concept? Very conveniently for Tolkien, the literary conventions and contents
of 
fantasy have remained quite stable over the centuries. Above all, natural changes affect the 
actuality of the form fantasy takes. Varied as they may be, epic poetry, folklore, fairy tale, 
literary fairy tale or fantasy novel, the red thread running through them is the basic idea of a 
conflict between good and evil, to be solved by the triumph of man. From time immemorial 
fantasy has been an omnipresent component of world literature, oral or written. Sharing its 
1
J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit, Or There and Back Again. London: HarperCollins, 1999 [1937], p. 3.
2
In 1969, John Rowe Townsend deplores that children’s literature has no status and is considered unfit for 
research. Compare John Rowe Townsend. “The Present State of English Children’s Literature”. In: Sheila 
Egoff; G.T. Stubbs; L.F. Ashley (Eds.) Only Connect: Readings on Children’s Literature. Toronto: Oxford 
University Press, 1969, p. 417.
3
Compare: Ann Swinfen. In Defence of Fantasy: A Study of the Genre in English and American Literature since 
1945
. London; Boston; Melbourne, Henley: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984, p.4. 

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eventful history with all the ups and downs, stages of great achievements, wide circulation 
and esteem alternate with periods of neglect, disregard or even condemnation. Despite 
repeated temporary existence in the literary underground, fantasy has always resurfaced. 
Without its influence, many masterpieces of world literature would be unthinkable or would 
not have had such an impact. 
In a kaleidoscope of diversified forms, the umbrella term fantasy encompasses the 
most varying literary works, ranging from poetry to drama and epic. Thus, Beowulf and the 
Nibelungenlied
, Everyman, Dante’s La Divina Commedia, selected plays by Shakespeare, 
stories from 1001 Nights, but also Gulliver’s Travels or Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are 
united by their involvement with fantasy. Undoubtedly, the big assets of these works are their 
adaptability and versatility, which allow varied employment in different epochs und genres.
Several reasons account for fantasy’s magical appeal, its power to reach and touch
people on a worldwide scale. This success can be attributed to the creation of worlds with 
sheer unlimited possibilities, permitting almost any theoretical or intellectual experiment. 
Fantasy provides a perfect forum for discussion, dealing with and analysing universal values, 
morals, traditions, politics, culture, human psychology, ethics and philosophy. Furthermore, it 
deals with existential anxieties, problems and otherness arising from social contacts, an 
enormous spectrum of topics the genre can address, discuss and offer solutions to. Fantasy has 
always provided humans with the necessary freedom for existential questions. If we combine 
this room for manoeuvre with our urge to creatively design familiar spaces and the yearning 
for the discovery of new ones, we find ourselves immersed in its equivocal
realm. On 
entering, one is easily spellbound by one of its main characteristics: Its inherent timelessness.
Tolkien’s success is inseparably linked to the period encompassing the Second World 
War. For millions, the world they had known had been thrown out of joint. In the aftermath of 
the war, people were in need of a new, adapted and balanced world view and outlook on life. 
With the prospect of an unknown, insecure future ahead, humans tend to seek comfort in 
familiar concepts before they are ready to embrace new ideas. Temporal and spatial distance 
as well as nostalgia can facilitate coming to terms with traumatic experiences in the present.
Tolkien revolutionised the genre by providing the reader with a secondary world 
which exceeds the aforementioned criteria by far. On the basis of the traditional conflict 
between good and evil the author erects an entire universe with its own history, mythology, 
philosophy, politics and languages. By projecting the “real” lethal battle over world dominion 
into an imaginary fantasy realm with medieval flair and magic, he revives epic fantasy. Long 
since written off emerges thus a genre from the depths of literary history which gives new 

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impulses to the field of fantasy in general. Inspired by Tolkien’s vision, an ever growing 
number of dedicated authors, readers and now also viewers and players discover the huge 
potential of modern fantasy.
Certainly, with Tolkien’s life’s work, the sights are set high, but are not 
insurmountable. Despite occasional attempts of some fans and critics at idealising the author 
and raising him into fantasy Olympus, Tolkien is neither infallible nor his creation flawless. 
However, his influence on the direction of modern fantasy cannot be denied: At the author’s 
instigation modern fantasy started to flourish. Today, the genre covers such a wide area and 
comes in so many different flavours that anyone can find something according to their taste.

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